Electronics and the elements

[[CJ]]

Maybe I'm overly paranoid but, my garage is not climate controlled, so my tools in my tool box are exposed to the elements. I was wondering if long term exposure to high humidity or sub freezing temps would have any effect on tools such as a multi-meter or scanner. Would it be wise to keep them in the house or are they fine where they are?

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,... I believe it's hard on their batteries, but No, I don't bring anything in,....

'n it was -20° here last night,....

 

[Backpack Hunter]

I don't worry about it. We get high humidity, but rare is the day we see it below 20degr.....even at night.

 

[ambenz]

Today's circuits are pretty durable as they are coated with resin.
Older electronics not so much.
Also batteries that freeze and thaw can loose the acid in them and corrode connections.
If you want to preserve and avoid any electronics that use batteries, bring them in a tempered space.
I also would be concerned with spray cans of paint, luberciants, car care products, etc.
I use to carry about 3 boxes of stuff into the basement every fall and bring them back out in the spring...a real PITA. So love my 55F heated garage now...LOL!

 

[MFolks]

When I worked at a company in San Diego Ca, who made electrical power equipment, such as line conditioners, frequency converters. and UPS (Uninterruptable Power Systems), the customers had a requirement for us to coat our PC boards with a protective coating, as the machines were in some very nasty environments..

I believe we used a product known as "Humiseal":

http://www.humiseal.com/

 

[Stuart in MN]

Go to the website for the companies that built your multimeter and scanner, and look up the specs. As an example, I looked at a random multimeter on the Fluke website and they list storage temps of -40c to +60c. A random multimeter on the Extech website listed storage temps of -20c to +60c.

 

[toplessHO]

you can build a heated cabinet with nothing more than an incandescent lightbulb.
Or might be a good excuse to get that gun cabinet with built in heater that everyone wants.
I keep all my good meters and scanners in the house,even tho it rarely gets to freezing here its normally 80% or higher humidity

 

[bobemmerich]

Never had an issue with any of mine.

 

[[CJ]]

OK, I guess I'm overly worried. I'll just pull the batteries and leave them.